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Inside Washington (05/11/2009)

* WASHINGTON (5/12/09)--The Washington Post profiled National Institutes of Health FCU President Juli Anne Callis in its May 11 edition of its ongoing series "New at the Top." Callis, a credit union movement veteran who recently joined NIHFCU from California-based KeyPoint CU, said that her goal as NIHFCU president is to “improve [the] financial health” of the employees who help the NIH improve the health of all Americans … * WASHINGTON (5/12/09)--Results of stress tests at 19 of the nation’s largest banks are raising doubts that the government’s plan to help banks get rid of bad assets may not be needed. The results indicate that 10 banks need more capital, but only a few need to raise a significant amount (American Banker May 11). This means the government program, the Public Private Investment Program (PPIP), may not be needed, said Chris Low, FTN Financial economist. Bank of America, GMAC LLC and Wells Fargo, which need the most capital according to stress tests, have not indicated they intend to participate in PPIP. However, Mark Zandi, chief economist and founder of Moody’s Economy.com, said PPIP could help institutions other than the 19 that were stress tested. A lot of other banks would welcome the ability to sell their assets in a reasonable way, he said. Robert Hartheimer, former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. director of resolutions, said PPIP could be “life-saving” for community banks ... * WASHINGTON (5/12/09)--Mary Schapiro, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, indicated her support for a regulators council to oversee risk in the financial markets during a speech Friday. The council was proposed by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Chairman Sheila Bair last week. Regardless of the council’s form, Schapiro said “it should have access, largely through the functional regulators, to sufficient information to provide a view of the financial system as a whole. And it should have sufficient power to direct prudential regulators to strengthen capital requirements and to direct institutions they regulate to reduce leverage as circumstances require. That said, there are many important issues around the definition of authority for such a regulator... I have long been concerned about excessive concentration of point of view--in a single regulator,” she said ...